Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Freezer Cooking #5 : Toddler/Baby Finger Foods

My "love" of freezer cooking comes from the simplicity of having
an abundance of already-prepared food in the freezer that I can pull out at
anytime and have dinner on the table in less than 20 minutes.
Freezer cooking really helps take the "stress" out of my everyday
"whats for dinner"... because there is always something in the
freezer we can eat!

Once our baby started eating finger foods, I knew I needed to use the same
concept for his food- mass finger food cooking = 30+ meals in the freezer for
him.

Of course I wanted to share what I made for him so you can do the same for
your little ones!
I will go ahead and mention-- my LO has an allergy to cow's milk- so I use
vegan cheese, rice or almond milk, vegan sour cream etc... in my recipes-- you
can use regular cow's milk products in the same quantities I have listed.I also try to buy as much organic for him as
possible—but I don’t always—so even if it says organic or doesn’t say at all—you
can use your own discretion.

Something I will also mention is that you will definitely need a mini muffin
pan (or TWO) to make this freezer cooking easier-- I only had one, and probably
could have saved myself a lot of time if I borrowed a neighbors! If you don’t
have a mini muffin pan you can improvise with most of the recipes and just roll
everything into a ball or patty.For the
muffin recipes you can utilize a regular sized muffin tin and cut them in half.

What's on the menu for your Little One?

Healthy Meatballs (24-32)

Mini Chicken Parmesan Cups
(24)

Broccoli Cheese Patties (20)

Spinach Cups (20)

Mashed Potato Cups (24)

Blueberry Donut Muffins (30)

Apple Banana Muffins (24)

Sweet Potato Fries

Here is my grocery list: (don’t be alarmed! The list looks a bit long but
most of the ingredients were already in my cabinet and are probably in yours!
Everything in italics was already in my cabinet. Compare this list to your
cabinets and cross out the items you won’t need to buy at the store. =) )Fresh Produce:

·Small Sweet Onion (1)

·(2) Medium Sweet Potatoes

·Cloves of Garlic (2)

·4 Medium Potatoes

·Large Apple (1)

·Bananas
(2)

·Blueberries (1 cup)

·Bag of Spinach

Meat:

·1 Ib.
Ground Organic Chicken (I bought breasts and ground myself)

·1 Ib.
Ground Organic Beef

Grocery:

·Breadcrumbs
(Italian & Regular)

·Wheat Bran

·Whole
Wheat Organic Flour

·Old
Fashioned Oats

·Small Jar Marinara Sauce

·Basil,
Oregano, Garlic Powder, Parsley

·Cinnamon

·Vegetable
Oil

·Baking
Powder

·Baking
Soda

·White
Sugar

·Brown
Sugar

·Salt

·Pepper

·Vanilla
Extract

·Baby food
Purees (2 containers) – I use these since I have them leftover, you can use any
other sort of vegetable puree or applesauce for this.

·Gallon
Sized Freezer Bags

·Quart
Sized Freezer Bags

Refrigerated:

·Unsalted
Butter (2 Tbsp)(I use vegan soft
spread)

·Egg (9)

·Milk (1 1/2 c) ( I use almond milk & rice milk)

·Sour Cream (1 c) (I use vegan)

·Mozzarella OR Parmesan Cheese (1/2 Cup) (I use
Daiya brand vegan)

·Cheddar Cheese (1 3/4 cup) (I use Daiya brand
vegan)

Frozen:

·Frozen Broccoli Florets (2 cups) thawed

Of course, once you get everything home and you are ready to cook put it on
the counter and admire what you are about to do!! =)

I label everything with name and date BEFORE I start:

Healthy Meatballs (1 Quart
Sized Bag)

Mini Chicken Parmesan Cups (1
Quart Sized Bag)

Broccoli Cheese Patties (1
Quart Sized Bag)

Spinach Cups (1 Quart Sized
Bag)

Sweet Potato Fries (1 Quart
Sized Bag)

Mashed Potato Cups (1 Gallon
Sized Bag)

Blueberry Donut Muffins (1
Gallon Sized Bag)

Apple Banana Muffins (1
Gallon Sized Bag)

Now
it’s time to get started!

1)
I decided to start with the “meat”:Preheat Oven to 375

Finely Dice Small Onion and set aside (will need
about ¼ c).Mince (2) cloves
garlic and set aside.

Get (2) Medium Sized Mixing Bowls out- put ground
beef in one and ground chicken in the other.

Spray baking sheet (with sides!) with non stick
cooking spray.Using your hands,
roll beef mixture into meatballs (approx 1.5 inch) – should make approx
24-30.You can keep these fairly
close together on the baking sheet, they do not expand.

Place chicken bites & meatballs in oven- bake
for 15-20 min, or until cooked through and golden brown.

2)
Next I did the “vegetables”:

Wash & Peel the sweet potatoes and regular
potatoes.Cut the sweet potatoes
into skinny “fries”.Place on greased
Large Cookie Sheet and toss in a small amount of olive oil- make sure they
are not overlapping much.Set
aside.

Cut the regular potatoes into “chunks” and place
in microwave in covered microwave safe dish for 8 minutes.

By now your meat should be out of the oven
cooling- I typically pop everything off the pans and onto cooling racks.

Increase oven temp to 450 and place prepared
Sweet Potatoes in oven.Bake 15
minutes, then “flip” fries and bake 10-15 more minutes.

Check potatoes in microwave- if soft,
remove.You may need to add 2-3
more minutes cooking time if not soft.Transfer soft potatoes to mixing bowl- mash a bit with a hand
masher or with a wooden spoon.Add
the following to the potato mixture:½ cup cheddar cheese, 2 eggs, ½ cup milk (I used rice milk), ½ cup
sour cream.Using hand mixer- blend
well.Grease mini muffin pan,
transfer heaping scoops into each muffin cup.Set Aside

By now the sweet potato fries should be
done.Reduce oven temp to 350 and
place mashed potato bites and spinach cups in oven.Bake 15-20 minutes or until golden.

Now to start the last vegetable item:Place thawed broccoli in food processor-
finely chop and transfer to mixing bowl.Add: ¾ cup grated cheddar, 1 cup breadcrumbs, 2 large eggs (I beat
these separately and then added), ¼ tsp basil, ¼ tsp oregano, ¼ tsp
parsley.Mix well.Spray baking sheet with non-stick
spray.I used a small measuring cup
and formed the broccoli mixture into “round patties” and placed on cookie
sheet. Bake 10 minutes, then flip
patties over and bake 10 more minutes or until “formed” and slightly
golden.

Spinach Bites & Mashed Potato Bites should be
cooling on a cooling rack.

*At
this point your meatballs, chicken parmesan bites and sweet potato fries should
be fairly cool.You will want to “flash
freeze” the pieces individually so when you transfer them to the Ziploc bags
they won’t freeze together in one big block.Transfer the pieces to a cutting board or something else that will fit
in your freezer.Make sure they are not
touching—put in freezer for approx 1 hour.If items feel semi- frozen transfer them into respective bags and place
immediately in freezer.

Grease both mini muffin pans – using a medium
scoop, fill each muffin cup with respective blueberry OR apple banana
mix.*I had some extra so I
actually also filled a regular sized (6) cup muffin tin with the remainder
so I didn’t’ waste.

Place in oven and bake approx 15 min or until
toothpick comes out clean.Transfer
to cooling rack.

*By
this time your spinach cups, mashed potato cups & broccoli bites should be
cool- transfer to cutting board and place in freezer to “flash freeze”.

Once
muffins are cool- also transfer to cutting boards to “flash freeze”.Once everything is semi-frozen, transfer to
respective Ziploc bags and place in freezer!

When
I am ready to “use” the freezer items—I either set them on the counter for
about 30 min prior to use and let them thaw OR put them in the microwave on
defrost setting for 1min30sec.Depending
on your little ones age- you may want to cut up the items into little finger
bites.

Hi, I have a few questions before I attempt this tomorrow. What is the amount of vanilla? Its never mentioned. Also, the milk values don't add up to 1 cu, they add up to 1 1/2 cu. The garlic says 1 and 2 in the list and directions respectively. Could you check your amounts and let me know which one is right?

Ashley- I have fixed the quantities in the recipe! Sorry for the discrepancies! Hope your LO enjoys the recipes as much as mine! I also just posted another Breakfast Freezer Cooking post-- so check it out, and I have another finger foods for toddlers one being posted by the weekend.

I made the chicken bites today can't wait for my ten month old to try them! I'm trying to get over my paranoia that they aren't cooked enough though lol Fish freaks me out. These recipes are brilliant!

Hi again! I figured out the bag of spinach and just bought a prepackaged bag of spinach from the salad mix section. I wanted to say I made the spinach bites, dairy free for my dairy allergy baby and it is one of the only finger foods she likes! She always liked sweet potato fries but I could not get her to eat anything made fresh, only "dry" packaged food. Today, she ate a spinach bite! So excited to try the other recipes knowing they taste good to babies when made dairy free.

At first attempt, my son (1 yr) does not like most of these which is devastating since I just made everything yesterday (except the breakfast meals)! Do they need to acquire a taste for some of it? I'm going to try mixing it in with his normal meals each day but worst case scenario, my husband and I will eat all of it!! :) Thanks for sharing! Also, we did ground turkey instead of ground chicken for the parm bites and they are great!

Thank you for putting so much effort into this little post. I love that you made a grocery list for the entire bulk-session and included the amount of each item needed. Very helpful! I also love the instructions for cooking everything all at once. Admittedly, it was difficult to do with the ten month old scrambling around. I have been working since 11 and I'm only just now getting to the breakfast stuff. It's three pm. My feet hurt!

It feels good to know she has food prepped for weeks. She has had nibbles of everything and really likes it. I did add SALT. Bad mommy, lol.

I have 5 month old baby what food can i introduce now?Now he is 5 months. I don't know what food i can give him. whether liquid or solid. soups, juices which is preferable. I am also not sure whether this is the correct stage to introduce new foods.pls help me.best natural baby formula

Hi there I have to thank you! I've used these recipes over and over and over again. Especially the mashed potato and spinach cups. I'm also a blogger, currently taking the NaBloPoMo challenge from Blogher and my post from today links back to this page. Let me know if you have a problem with that. Thanks again for compiling all of these recipes. http://www.itsthedramamama.com/2015/11/mommy-monday-what-baby-eating.html

Thank you very much for this! I've made everything except the breakfast goods and my 1 yo LOVED EVERYTHING! We were having a lot of trouble as she wasn't eating anything of the usual stuff I used to give her an I can't believe how she started eating this with absolutely no problem! I think she loves the fact that she can grab everything by herself and pick what she wants. Thank you very much for sharing this with us and for all the time it took you to write down everything so clearly!Hugs, a grateful mom from Argentina :)

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